Charles lay in bed, his arms under his head. Looking out the window, he could see nothing but the small lamps that lined the sidewalk around the garden. And the stars. So many stars. He thought he had a great view from his balcony in Connecticut, but it couldn’t match the one out here in the New Mexico desert. His mind raced with the day’s events. It had started just after he’d checked in at the motel and had been run over by Bev. It had ended with him watching her during dinner, but not having the courage to sit next to her. He had thought about asking if she’d like to play a game of pool before bed, but she’d disappeared with Katie again before he’d had the chance.
It almost seemed like Bev was avoiding him.
He didn’t have any reason to think that, of course. After all, she was the one who had given him her phone number. The number that still sat in his pocket. The number he hadn’t used yet.
Charles sat up. Maybe he should call her. He reached down and grabbed his pants. The small piece of paper was tucked into the corner of the pocket, and he smoothed it out. It was too dark to read the numbers. Charles picked up his phone and held the paper up to the glowing screen, but when he saw it was eleven o’clock, he realized it was probably too late to call. All of the other guys in his room were fast asleep, their breathing deep.
Okay, he’d text her. Technology had changed a lot since he had been in college, but this was one of his favorite inventions. Get tongue-tied around a beautiful woman? No problem. Just send her a text, complete with emoji so she doesn’t misread your intentions. He had learned the necessity of using an emoji the hard way.
With fumbling fingers, Charles typed Hi, added a smiley face and sent his text.
Okay, maybe he wasn’t William Shakespeare, but it wasn’t any worse than what he’d manage in person. Charles drummed his fingers on his thigh, waiting impatiently for the vibration of his phone to announce an incoming message.
It remained silent and dark.
Bev was probably asleep, like he should be. From what Julie had said, they had a big day ahead of them and would be preparing for their flight.
Charles lay back down, but no matter what he did to try to trick his mind into shutting down for the night, he couldn’t tear his thoughts away from Bev. He’d never had a woman occupy his thoughts like this. Sure, he’d gone out with plenty of women over the years, but most of the time they were blind dates. The few times he had actually asked a woman out, things had started out well, but then turned weird once they’d discovered what his net worth was. Perfectly sane, intelligent women turned into stalkers. He’d even had one propose to him on their third date after he’d been recognized by a local reporter. Charles had stopped going on dates after that.
But Bev was different. First off, she must be wealthy if she was at the spaceport, which meant she wouldn’t be after his money. Probably. That introduced a whole different set of challenges, though. Wealthy women tended to have…what was the right word?…demanding personalities.
Charles shook his head. There was no way he was going to be able to fall asleep any time soon. He grabbed his security lanyard, a light jacket, and his shoes and slipped out of the room. The halls were empty and the lights dim. It was eerie, and he wondered if he should just return to bed. Was he allowed to be out here? No one had said anything about them having a curfew.
What was he thinking? Of course he could go wherever he wanted. He was a customer, and a guest, after all. That didn’t make the deserted spaceport any less creepy, however.
Charles wasn’t sure where he wanted to go, but as soon as he saw the double doors that led outside, he took a sharp right and headed out into the brisk night air. He breathed it in as he followed the sidewalk around to the back of the building, where he hadn’t been before. The garden wound its way with him and expanded. He took a path that led him into the middle of it, away from the artificial lights to where he could see the stars better. They seemed to stretch out forever, and he felt like he had come home.
“This is why I came,” he said, a feeling of peace and tranquility washing over him. He was so tired of the stress that his lifestyle brought with it. The only moments he felt like himself were when he was outside, looking at the sky, and just…being. He found a bench to the side of the path and sat down.
“Do you think this will be what space looks like, or do you think the stars will seem closer?” a female voice asked from the darkness.
Charles jumped and turned toward the voice. Bev stood a few feet off, staring up at the sky as he had done just a moment before.
“Sorry,” she said with a smile. “I saw you walking past my window and thought getting out of that dorm room seemed like a good idea.” She gestured toward the bench. “Do you mind?”
It took a moment for Charles to recover from his surprise, but then he shook his head. “No, of course not.”
Bev sat down next to him. “I got your text.”
“I noticed that you didn’t reply.”
“I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what to make of it,” she said with a laugh. “I guess I thought there would be another text following that one.”
Charles couldn’t help but laugh with her. “Are you saying my two-letter text didn’t sweep you off your feet?”
Bev was quiet for a moment and he chanced a glance at her. She was looking at him, a small smile playing on her lips.
“What are you thinking?” he asked, turning back to the sky.
“That you intrigue me,” Bev said.
“How so?” As soon as Charles asked the question, he held his breath. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer. Intrigue wasn’t always a good thing.
“I don’t give my phone number to random strangers,” she said after a moment. “Ever.”
Charles’ heart stuttered. He wasn’t sure what to say to that. Everything that came to mind sounded stupid. Should he say that he was honored to be the first? Or suggest that she gave it to him out of guilt for running him over? None of that conveyed what he was really thinking.
If he were to follow his impulse, he would scoot closer to her on the bench and take her hand in his, and find out everything there was to know about the beautiful and mysterious woman that had landed in his life just that morning.
But he couldn’t do that either.
Instead he said, “That’s a good habit to have. There are a lot of crazy people out there.” He then leaned closer to her and whispered, “And for the record, I don’t text random strangers. Especially one-word texts—those ones are reserved for only the people I like most.”
Bev’s eyes reflected the starlight, and they seemed to glow. “Good thing we’re not strangers anymore, then. I’d hate to think you’d broken one of your rules for me.”
“If I had, you’d be worth breaking them for,” Charles said. He realized how corny that sounded and he sat back on the bench and let out a groan. “Oh man, that was the worst pickup line ever. I’m so sorry. Can we rewind?”
Bev laughed, and when she did, every part of her seemed so open and raw. It was one of the most beautiful things Charles had ever seen. “Nope, sorry. I don’t do take-backs,” she said with a teasing grin.
Charles knew next to nothing about Bev, but just being around her made him happier than he had been in years. It made him long for more.
“Now it’s my turn to ask what you are thinking,” she said, her eyes questioning.
“I was thinking that I don’t know anything about you,” Charles said. “And I’d like to.”
Bev’s smile immediately faded, and it felt like an invisible barrier had been thrown up between them. “That sounds lovely, but it’s pretty late and we need to be semi-functional tomorrow for our training.” She glanced at her phone. “Scratch that. We have training this morning. It’s already past midnight.” A hint of her smile returned as she stood to leave. “Thank you for the company, Charles.”
“Anytime,” he said, when really he wanted to beg her to stay. Who cared if they didn’t sleep? He only had two more days to get to know this woman, and he didn’t want to waste a second.
Charles watched where she had disappeared on the path, long after she was gone.